


Unthinkable

by MichLC



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-03-01 04:58:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2760491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MichLC/pseuds/MichLC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILER ALERT TO MID-SEASON FINALE!  This story is about Malcolm Merlyn breaking the news to the team that Oliver is dead and how they each deal with the news.  As you can imagine, it's not pretty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unthinkable

The pain was unbearable and Oliver was unable to open his eyes. He was so cold and the icy rocks beneath him felt like needles. Thankfully the numbness started setting in. He knew he was dying and despite his convictions, he regretted so much. He should have told Thea the truth, he should have allowed Diggle to bring baby Sara into the Arrow Cave, but mostly, he should not have pushed Felicity away. Was someone coming? He thought he heard footsteps crunching into the snow but he couldn't move to look. He felt his heart beat slow down and he couldn't seem to bring in anymore air into his lungs. Death was coming for him and he embraced it with only one image in his mind...the face of his Felicity.

>>\---------->

Felicity sat at her beloved computers and just stared at the screen. It had been 72 hours since Oliver left; 72 hours since he told her he loved her. Since then, she hadn't slept more than a few hours. She went to work, but sat at her desk in a daze. Her assistant Jerry fielded her calls because he knew something was up. Ray had come by to see her several times to discuss his project, but she could only respond by nodding her head. Felicity believed in Oliver's abilities but the longer they went without hearing from him, the more her resolve crumbled. Why didn't she say anything to him when he told her he loved her? She did love him. She loved him with all her heart but in that moment, she was too upset and stunned to speak, and she was afraid if she told him her true feelings that would mean he wasn't coming back.

John and Roy were training on the mats dealing with their worry the only way they knew how. She stared at them for a moment. She could tell John was worried. His brow was furrowed as his concentrated on moving arms. Oliver was like a brother to him and she knew John felt guilty for not at least following Oliver to the "neutral location," but Oliver had insisted he go alone. Poor Roy was angry. She hadn't seen him this angry since when he was first injected with Mirakuru. She watched as John and Roy went at each other with a viciousness that was startling. She understood more than anyone what they were feeling. Looking back at her screens, she watched the scan for Oliver's face run and run. She even had the A.R.G.U.S. satellite up. Nothing, absolutely nothing was coming up.

"You won't find him," came a voice from behind Felicity.

Stunned, she jumped up from her chair and screamed. John and Roy came running to her side. Malcolm Merlyn stood before them in all his arrogance.

"What the hell are you doing here Merlyn?" John sneered.

Malcolm smiled and casually took a few steps forward. It wasn't the smile of friendliness, but a smile of victory. It was a smile of a man who knew a secret that would hurt the three people in front of him, and it was a smile that said he relished the fact that he was about to destroy their world.

"Oliver Queen is dead," Malcolm declared. "I'm here to inform you that I am taking back this city from the Arrow."

Felicity gasped and John put his arm around her shoulders. When Felicity looked at her friend, she noticed he had his gun at his back like he always did. He was always prepared for whatever came their way. Her heart beat fast and her mouth went dry. She looked back at Merlyn. He was the reason Oliver challenged Ra's al Ghul. He was the reason Thea killed Sara. Malcolm Merlyn had caused so much pain and yet he still gets to live. It wasn't fair, and now he was getting the satisfaction of telling them Oliver was dead. It couldn't be! She refused to believe it.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here Merlyn," Roy said. "We should kill you for what you've done to Thea. Oliver went to Ra's al Ghul to protect her."

"What I've done to my daughter is make her stronger. Now that her brother is out of the picture, we will rule this city and eliminate the vermin that has plagued this city for years," he declared.

"You're a sick and demented man," John said.

Felicity barely heard the exchange. Her ears were ringing and not really knowing what she was doing, she quickly grabbed the gun at John's back and pointed it directly at Merlyn's face.

"Felicity!" John and Roy shouted simultaneously.

"You son of a bitch. You should have died two years ago. You're like a demented, psychotic cat that just won't die!" Felicity shouted.

Merlyn didn't even flinch as he stared down the barrel of the gun. He admired this little blonde girl. She had spirit and she was obviously smart based upon what he saw her doing at the computers. He vaguely remembered her from Queen Consolidated, but even the most loyal of employees wouldn't stick around to help their former employer in less than legal activities unless they had something else at stake. He stared at her a moment and cocked his head. She had determination in her eyes and he noticed the dark circles underneath. Her feelings for the Arrow went much deeper than simple loyalty.

"You're in love with him," he stated. "What a pity. I've always been a bit of sucker for a good romance. Although, I seriously doubt Oliver is capable of romance. He goes through women like shit through a goose."

"You know nothing about me or Oliver. He's not dead and when he gets back, he will destroy you for what you've done," she said.

"You have a great deal of faith ma petite, but I wager that you've heard no word from Oliver in what, almost three days? Ra's al Ghul has been around longer than you could ever imagine. I assure you, Oliver is dead," he stated with confidence.

"Well guess what, you're next," Felicity said and pulled the trigger back.

"Felicity, don't do it. Oliver would not want you to become a killer for him. Merlyn is not worth it. We'll find another way," John said softly. Roy came around to her other side, not really knowing what to do.

"I don't care John!" She shouted. Her chest rose and fell with the effort it took for her to breathe. She felt the air around grow impossible thick and her eyes blurred with unshed tears. She knew there was a possibility that Merlyn spoke the truth but she refused to believe it, and why should he still be allowed to live if Oliver was dead? A hand gently touched her forearm on her left and a tear slipped down her cheek. Roy pushed her arm down and reached for the gun.

Merlyn turned to leave but turned back to look at her. A small part of him felt bad for her. She loved a man that was complicated, one who had done a great many bad things. Her strength reminded him of his late wife and he dropped his smile and replaced it with a look of pity.

"Next time you point a gun at someone Miss Smoak, be prepared to use it, and turn off the safety," he said and left the foundry.

>>\---------->

Later that night, Roy was out patrolling. Diggle had taken Felicity home. He was too afraid to let her drive in the state she was in, but Roy had way too much adrenaline pumping through him to sleep. He couldn't let Oliver down. Oliver had been his savior, his mentor and his big brother. Even if he was dead, Roy owed it to him to protect the city from Malcolm Merlyn. The only thing Roy was at a loss with was what to do about Thea. She needed to know the truth. She had already been told so many lies and if she knew that Oliver sacrificed himself for her because of what her father did, she would be beyond furious and would maybe even turn on him. She could be a formidable ally.

With determination running anew in his veins, he turned his motorcycle towards Thea's loft. She would be home by now from Verdant and possibly even asleep. It was time for Arsenal to make his appearance. He was not going to sit by and let what the Arrow had worked so hard for be destroyed.

>>\---------->

John watched his beautiful baby daughter sleep in her crib and it calmed his nerves. Hearing the words out loud that Oliver was dead had crushed him. He refused to believe it and he had to stay strong, at least for Felicity. He had offered to bring her home with him. Lyla wouldn't mind and he was fearful of leaving her alone, but she adamantly refused. He insisted on driving her home and she agreed. In the car, she had told him that Oliver said he loved her before he left. John was stunned. One the one hand, he was happy that Oliver finally told her how he felt, but on the other hand, he was devastated for Felicity. When he asked her what her response was, she calmly said, "nothing."

John sighed. He had no idea what to do next but he knew they had to continue the Arrow's work. Losing Sara was hard on all of them, but losing Oliver had the potential to destroy them, and John could not allow that to happen. Kissing his daughter's head, John left her room and made his way to bed. He knew he wouldn't sleep, but he needed the warmth and comfort of laying next to Lyla. First thing in the morning, he was going to get to the bottom of Oliver's death, if for nothing else but to give him a proper funeral, but in his heart, he hoped to find him alive.

>>\---------->

When Felicity arrived home, she dropped her purse and coat on the floor where she stood by the door. Making her way to the couch, she kicked off her shoes and fell onto the couch. Her apartment was dark with the exception of the street light coming in through her living room window. It would be time for her to get ready for work soon but she couldn't sleep. She didn't want to sleep. Bringing her feet up onto the couch, Felicity hugged her knees and thought of Oliver. She thought of the first time he came to her for help on his bullet-ridden laptop. She thought of him bleeding in the back of her mini cooper. She thought of the countless hours of watching him on the salmon ladder. She didn't know when it happened or how it happened, but he had slowly made his way into her heart. She couldn't pinpoint the exact moment she fell in love with him, but she was knew it happened sometime between "I ran out of sport bottles" and "what happens in Russia stays in Russia."

Felicity sighed, laid her head back on the couch and let the tears come. If Oliver was dead, what would she do? His rejection of her, albeit for honorable reasons, had already put a crack in her heart. Believing she would never see him alive again would certainly break it fully. She should have fought harder. She should have told him she refused to allow him to not be with her. She was stronger that he gave her credit for, and she would prove that. Starting tomorrow, she would ask John and Roy to train her. She would not only learn how to properly defend herself, but she would learn weapons too. She'd be damned if she every allowed herself to be in a compromising position again without knowing what to do. When she held that gun on Merlyn tonight, she had no clue the safety was still on. Admittedly, she knew very little about guns or weapons other than what she observed from her guys. Tomorrow she would begin her new education, but tonight, she would allow her grief to spill forth.

>>\---------->

The pain was unbearable! At least if he had been left in the snow, he would be numb from the cold, but this was way worse. At some point during his time on the island, he had learned to ignore the pain. He had many scars to prove he had survived, but this felt different. A fire was burning from the inside out. He cringed and screamed. He writhed and screamed again. Why hadn't he passed out? Was he in a never ending hell? Why wasn't he dead? When the fire spread out again, his blood-curdling scream shook the ground beneath him and the blackness finally came.

The End?

**Author's Note:**

> The mid-season finale killed me! My head says he'll be back, but my heart is a little broken and I worry he'll only be back in flashbacks. Some friends have explained to me about the Lazarus Pit. So I'm feeling a little more hopeful. I had to get this story out since it has been swimming around in my head for a couple of days. Thanks for reading and as always, kudos and comments are appreciated.


End file.
